Match of the Month: March 2015 Nominations

March was a huge month for pro wrestling, with WWE's biggest event of the year, WrestleMania, hitting our screens and providing a number of thrills and spills. IMPACT Wrestling also had a big month with a series of impressive bouts on television capping off a succesful run of episodes taped on the UK Tour. Ring of Honor put forward a number of strong bouts in their 13th Anniversary show. Elsewhere on the Indies, WWNLive continued to go from strength to strength, with EVOLVE in particular stepping up a gear and providing a number of matches to the list below.

Over in Japan, New Japan kept things going with their New Japan Cup tournament, with a number of impressive tournament bouts, as well as star studded multi man contests. Dragon Gate said farewell to Uhaa Nation, his bout with BxB Hulk is included in the nominations. In Mexico, AAA's offer up a number of bouts from their Rey de Reyes PPV, including a tag bout involving the late, Perro Aguayo Jr.

ROH 

13th Anniversary

 Cedric Alexander vs. Matt Sydal 

 ACH vs. AJ Styles 

 reDRagon vs. The Young Bucks

 Alberto El Patron vs. Jay Lethal 

Dragon Gate 

Champion Gate in Osaka - Day 2

 BxB Hulk vs. Uhaa Nation

NJPW 

New Japan Cup - Day 1

Togi Makabe vs. Tomaoki Honma

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Satoshi Kojima 

Doc Gallows vs. Kota Ibushi 

Karl Anderson vs. Tetsuya Naito 

Bad Luck Fale vs. Kazuchika Okada

New Japan Cup - Day 3 

Captain New Japan, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA & Tomoaki Honma vs. Manabu Nakanishi, Mascara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi, Satoshi Kojima & Tiger Mask
Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yohei Komatsu vs. Sho Tanaka & Yuji Nagata
Cody Hall, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson & Tama Tonga vs. Kazuchika Okada, Kazushi Sakuraba, Shinsuke Nakamura & Tomohiro Ishii
 Bad Luck Fale vs. Tetsuya Naito
 Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata 

New Japan Cup - Day 7

Jay White, Jushin Thunder Liger & KUSHIDA vs. Mascara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi & Tiger Mask
 Satoshi Kojima & Yohei Komatsu vs. Sho Tanaka & Yuji Nagata
 Kota Ibushi vs. Tetsuya Naito
 Bad Luck Fale, Doc Gallows, Karl Anderson & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & YOSHI-HASHI 
 Hirooki Goto vs. Kota Ibushi 

WWNLive

EVOLVE 38

Chris Hero vs. Drew Gulak

EVOLVE 40

Timothy Thatcher vs. Tommy End 
Biff Busick vs. Chris Hero

Supershow - Mercury Rising

Chris Hero vs. Timothy Thatcher

Lucha Undeground 

#18

 Johnny Mundo vs. King Cuerno, Steel Cage

#19

Fenix vs. Mil Muertes, Grave Consequences

#20

 Alberto El Patron vs. Texano, Bullrope
 Cage vs. Prince Puma, Boyle Heights Street Fight

TNA

IMPACT Wrestling #556

 Bobby Roode vs. Eric Young, Last Man Standing 

 Ethan Carter III vs. Rockstar Spud, Hair vs. Hair

IMPACT Wrestling #557

 DJ Z & Jessie Godderz vs. Manik & The Great Sanada vs. The Wolves, Ultimate X 
 Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell
 Kurt Angle vs. Lashley

AAA

Rey de Reyes

 El Hijo del Fantasma vs. Fenix 

 Blue Demon, Jr. vs. Villano IV

 Aero Star vs. El Mesias vs. El Texano vs. Psycho Clown

 Myzteziz & Rey Mysterio, Jr. vs. Pentagon, Jr. & Perro Aguayo, Jr.

WWE

NXT #140

 Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens

WrestleMania 31 Kick-Off

 Big E & Kofi Kingston vs. Cesaro & Tyson Kidd vs. Los Matadores vs. The Usos 

 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

WrestleMania 31 

Bad News Barrett vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Luke Harper vs. R-Truth vs. Stardust, Ladder 

Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins

John Cena vs. Rusev

Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns *vs. Seth Rollins*

Monday Night RAW #1140

Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler

Dean Ambrose vs. John Cena

You can cast your votes here -  http://acrossthepondwrestli.polldaddy.com/s/match-of-month-march-2015

Match of the Month: February 2015

So it's time to reveal the Match of the Month results for February 2015, a total of 102 people voted this time round with six different countries being represented across Europe and North America. 

Before we get into the Top Three Matches (and those that have qualified for the Match of January to June vote later in the year) let's take a look at the rest of the matches that captured votes this time round.

4th - Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns (WWE Fastlane) 9%
5th ACH, Cedric Alexander & Matt Sydal vs. AJ Styles & The Young Bucks (ROH on SBG #178) 8%
6th - AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka) 6%
7th - reDRagon vs. The Young Bucks vs. Time Splitters (NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka) 4%
7th=  John Cena vs. Rusev (WWE Fastlane) 4%
7th= Tomoaki Honma vs. Tomohiro Ishii (NJPW The New Beginning in Sendai) 4%
10th - Cesaro & Tyson Kidd vs. The Usos (WWE Fastlane) 2%
10th= Kota Ibushi vs. Tomoaki Honma (NJPW The New Beginning in Osaka) 2%
12th - Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs. Mascara Dorada & Time Splitters (NJPW The New Beginning in Sendai) 1%
12th= Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Yuji Nagata (NJPW The New Beginning in Sendai) 1%

Congratulations to everyone who earned votes this time around, however special recognition to The Young Bucks who posted three matches within the rankings. Recognition must also go to AJ Styles, Time Splitters and Tomoaki Honma for earning two matches inside the ranking.

Onto the top three...

3rd - Bayley vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks (WWE NXT Takeover: Rival) 15%

This was a smooth match that built well towards it's finish, whilst playing on the interweaving relationships between the four women in the ring. Up there with the best Fatal Four Ways WWE has ever produced this match more than deserves to be represented here, even giving second place a run for it's money.

2nd - Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn (WWE NXT Takeover: Rival) 19%

A terrific story, from start to finish Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn's NXT Championship match was gripping, edge-of-your-street drama. A compelling battle, pitting a vicious, unstoppable villain against a plucky, never-say-die underdog of a hero. This match made a star out of Kevin Owens in only his third match in WWE and put his name on everyone's lips. Most of all it left you wanting more, which may be the reason it found itself in Second place as opposed to our Numbero Uno.

1st - Adrian Neville vs. Finn Balor (WWE NXT Takeover: Rival) 26%

Yes, another top three clean sweep for WWE NXT. With a foundation of good solid storytelling, Neville and Balor put together a hard-hitting and technical series of moves and near falls that knitted their two styles together perfectly. With a finish that was a joy to behold, it was difficult not to enjoy this match. These two clearly have bright futures in the WWE, along with all of the talent name in our Top Three this month, it's a credit to the work that Triple H and his team have done that the "Developmental" group is picking up so many of our Match of the Month awards. The three NXT matches up for nomination garnered 55% of the total vote between them, compared to just 15% for WWE's main roster PPV Fastlane.

And Introducing....

The ATPW Top 10

This list is based on those matches that make our Top Three each month (beginning in January 2014), with each 1st place match earning 3 points, 2nd place match earning 2 points and 3rd place match earning 1 point. In addition any placing in the Top Three in our Year-Half polls will earn the same value, as will a placing in our Match of the Year polls. In essence a Match of the Year Match would earn 9 points.

Just an interesting way of keeping track of things since we started the polls last year. Changes this month see Sami Zayn jump ahead of Roman Reigns into 3rd place, whilst Adrian Neville leap frogs Bray Wyatt to claim 7th.

1st - Seth Rollins (WWE) 35 points
2nd - Dean Ambrose (WWE) 29 points
3rd - Sami Zayn (WWE NXT) 22 points
4th - Roman Reigns (WWE) 20 points
5th - Erick Rowan (WWE) 18 points
5th= Luke Harper (WWE) 18 points
7th - Adrian Neville (WWE NXT) 17 points
8th - Bray Wyatt (WWE) 16 points
9th - John Cena (WWE) 10 points
=    - Triple H (WWE) 10 points
=    - Davey Richards (TNA) 10 points
=    - Eddie Edwards (TNA) 10 points
=    - Jeff Hardy (TNA) 10 points
=    - Matt Hardy (TNA) 10 points

Ones to Watch - Randy Orton, Cesaro and Dolph Ziggler are all capable of breaking the Top 10 next month.

ALL HAIL KING ROLLINS!

October Match & Event of the Month Nominations

It's the first Monday of the Month, which means it's time to begin our vote to find out what you think was the best match in October. Below is the nominations list, ordered by company. The poll can be found here https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZYG52BC and closes at 9PM GMT on 10/11/2014

Forever Hooligans vs. Time Splitters vs. Young Bucks (King of Pro-Wrestling)

El Desperado vs. Ryusuke Taguchi (King of Pro-Wrestling)

Tomohiro Ishii vs. Yujiro Takahashi (King of Pro-Wrestling)

CHAOS (Nakamura/YOSHI-HASHI) vs. Hirooki Goto & Katsuyori Shibata (King of Pro-Wrestling)

Kazuchika Okada vs.Tetsuya Naito (King of Pro-Wrestling)


AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (King of Pro-Wrestling)

CHAOS (Okada/Nakamura/Ishii) vs. Hirooki Goto, Hiroshi Tanahashi & Katsuyori Shibata (Road to Power Struggle - Night 1)

Adrian Neville vs. Tyson Kidd (NXT Episode 117)

Cesaro vs. Dolph Ziggler, Two out of Three Falls (Hell in a Cell)

Goldust & Stardust vs. The Usos (Hell in a Cell)

John Cena vs. Randy Orton, Hell in a Cell Match (Hell in a Cell)

Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins, Hell in a Cell Match (Hell in a Cell)

Team 3D vs. The Hardy Boys vs. The Wolves (IMPACT Wrestling Episode 535)

Manik vs. Minoru Tanaka (Bound For Glory)

Low Ki vs. Kaz Hayashi vs. Samoa Joe (Bound For Glory)

Andy Wu & El Hijo del Pantera vs. Jiro Kurushio & Yusuke Kodama (Bound For Glory)

Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode vs. Eric Young vs. Jeff Hardy, Elimination Match (IMPACT Wrestling Episode 536)

Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Naomichi Marafuji (Great Voyage in Yokohama)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are our event of the month nominations, the poll opens the same time as our Match of the Month vote.

NXT Episode 117

Monday Night RAW Episode 1116

NXT Episode 119

Monday Night RAW Episode 1117

Hell in a Cell

Great Voyage in Yokohama

Global League - Night 1

Global League - Night 2

on SBG Episode 159 - Road Rage Edition

on SBG Episode 161

IMPACT Wrestling Episode 535

IMPACT Wrestling Episode 536

NJPW King of Pro Wrestling

NJPW Road to Power Struggle - Night 1

Episode 1

June 2014 Match of the Month

Following our most succesful Match of the Month poll to date, with three times the amount of votes as any other poll we have done, I thought it was time to turn these votes into a articles. This means they can be found at any time, with a little more background than our Match of the Month page delivers. 

This month we have a total of 28 different matches to choose from, with New Japan, WWE, Ring of Honor and TNA all being represented. It was an extremely competitive month, producing the closest top two we have ever seen, no doubt due to WWE producing two PPV's (Payback and Money in the Bank) in June. 

I'm going to be looking at the Top Five in reverse order, but first let's check out those matches that didn't quite make it that far.

Others Gaining Votes

From New Japan - 

 

KUSHIDA vs Ricochet (NJPW Best of the Super Junior XXI - Night 8) (4%)

Kota Ibushi vs Ricochet (NJPW Dominion 6.21) (3%)

The Young Bucks vs Time Splitters (NJPW Dominion 6.21)  (2%)

BULLET CLUB (AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi) vs CHAOS (Kazuchika Okada & Tomohiro Ishii) (NJPW Dominion 6.21) (1%)

From WWE -

 

 Bray Wyatt vs John Cena, Last Man Standing (WWE Payback) (4%)

Cesaro vs Sheamus (WWE Payback) (2%)

 Alberto Del Rio vs Bray Wyatt vs Cesaro vs John Cena vs Kane vs Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns vs Sheamus, Ladder Match (WWE Money in the Bank) (1%)

Money in the Bank wins Event of the Month with 26%, Raw 1100 finishes 3rd with17% and Payback finishes 4th with 12%

From Ring of Honor 

 

Matt Hardy & Mike Bennett vs The Briscoes, No Disqualification Match (ROH Best in the World) (4%)

reDRagon vs Bad Influence (ROH Best in the World) (4%)

 ACH vs BJ Whitmer vs Caprice Coleman vs Tadarius Thomas vs Takaaki Watanabe vs Tommaso Ciampa (ROH Best in the World) (3%)

Cedric Alexander vs Roderick Strong, Submission Match (ROH Best in the World) (2%)

 Adam Cole vs Michael Elgin (ROH Best in the World) (2%)

Best in the World finishes 2nd for Event of the Month (24%)

 From TNA - 

 

Bully Ray vs Ethan Carter III, Texas Death Match(TNA Slammiversary) (3%)

Austin Aries vs Kenny King (TNA Slammiversary) (1%)

 Austin Aries vs Bobby Lashley vs Eric Young, Steel Cage Match (TNA Slammiversary) (1%)

Slammiversary finishes 5th for Event of the Month with 10%


So those were the matches that didn't quite make it into the Top 5, so let's look at the ones that did!

5th Place -

Crazzy Steve vs Davey Richards vs Eddie Edwards vs Manik vs Sanada vs Tigre Uno, Ladder Match 

TNA Slammiversary (5%)

 It was a brave decision by TNA to hold a multi-man Ladder match in the same month as WWE's Money in the Bank PPV, but it payed it off with all five out of the six men making their first appearance in the Top 5, as well as only TNA's third this year (Following Gunner and James Storm's No DQ, No Countout bout from Impact Wrestling and the interpromotional Cage match with Wrestle-1's Great Muta, Sanada & YASU taking on Bad Influence and Chris Sabin at Lockdown, both in March) 

The Slammiversary opener was an exciting near 10 minutes of action, with plenty of thrills and spills to get the crowd warmed up for a solid Slammiversary PPV. Some of the highlights included a lovely Superkick/Release German Suplex combo from The Wolves (Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards) onto X Division Champion Sanada, a nice recovery from Manik as he turned being pushed off the Ladder into a plancha, a Moonsault from Sanada onto Crazzy Steve who had been a placed onto a Ladder, Powerbomb/Backstabber combo from the Wolves and my favourite spot of the match, Manik sunset bomb on Richards off the Ladder onto another freaking Ladder!

Whilst this was mainly a spot-based affair there were some nice storyline elements, with The Wolves coming off a the main stars of the bout as they battle a top the Ladder making the X Division title look more desirable straight away, whilst their continued team work throughout the match made them look like a terrific tag team at the same time. Crazzy Steve was also fairly over with the Texas crowd, as his character continues to be one of the most interesting on TNA television. 

I think what stopped this bout from ending up higher up the rankings this month, were the few timing errors from Sanada, like leaving Crazzy Steve looking like an idiot while he waiting for Sanada to push over the Ladder, and the anti-climatic ending as Sanada simply pulled the belt down with no real build. I think if this match had gone another five or ten minutes we could have seen it featuring in, at least, the top three of the Month. 

4th Place -  

The Usos vs The Wyatt Family (Erick Rowan & Luke Harper) 

WWE Money in the Bank (9%) 

 Taking 4th place, it's a first Top Five appearance for The Usos, whilst Luke Harper and Erick Rowan make it four times within the Top Five (following on from teaming with Bray Wyatt against The Shield in February, March and April) 


The Money in the Bank PPV opener was a great way to kick off what was voted Event of the Month (26%). The bout was the classic wrestling condumrum; Power or Speed? With Harper and Rowan dominating most of the match, working both Usos with a combination of power moves and underhanded tactics. The Usos have perhaps been the most improved wrestlers this year, especially in terms of star power, and the vocal crowd was split almost down the middle for the two teams, as The Usos launched into a terrific comeback sequence, highlighted by a Corkscrew Dive from Jimmy and lovely double Superkick spot.

The final four or five minutes were especially strong and had the live crowd on the edge of their seats as the four men launched into a series of near falls and false finishes with both teaming looking like they could have the win at any time. A personal highlight was a well excuted powerbomb from Luke Harper. JBL said on commentary "Talk about big fight feel", and he was completely right (for a change), this did feel like a big time fight, which is representative of just how far the WWE tag team division has come of the last year or so. 

Perhaps the only thing stopping this bout from reaching higher in this months ranking was a few slip ups from The Usos as they approached big moves. First, a slip on the barricade when attempting to perform a diving forearm to Harper, then a slip on the ropes when hitting a corkscrew and finally another slip as the match approached it's finish whilst attempting a Double Super-plex on Rowan. Whilst the slips were hardly The Usos fault, it did at those times slow the pace of the bout down and took away ever so slightly from those big moves. 

3rd Place

Bad News Barrett vs Dolph Ziggler

WWE Raw 1100 (10%) 

The only match TV match from June to make the ranking is this quality Intercontinental Championship bout from Raw. Bad News Barrett makes his first appearance in the Top 5, whilst this is Ziggler's second time, having finished joint fifth in Marchwith a Triple Threat also involving Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus from WWE's Main Event.

In terms of getting the crowd on their side, Ziggler and Barrett did a fantastic job in this one. The crowd started off luke warm at best, with a weak chant for Barrett all they had to offer. But as the bout headed towards a climax. Ziggler proved that he can be a very versatile blue-eye, with this lengthier match allowing him to show a fuller range of his selling ability than we have been able to see for a while. Barrett's offence was crisp and felt fresh, with some nice transition sequence like having to switch a Powerbomb in a Wasteland for a near fall. 

I think what worked so well in this match was that both men have a number of recognisable signature moves (Winds of Change and Wasteland for Barrett, Zig Zag, Fameasser and Super X-Factor for Ziggler) which allowed the match to build steadily with the crowd getting more and more into the match with each near fall. By the end of the match, the crowd were oohing and ahhing, with the finish getting a tremendous pop out of them. The fact that each men had gone at the other hammer and tongs made the Intercontinental Championship feel like something worth winning, which is, of course, exactly what the belt needs to feel like.

It is such a shame that Barrett suffered an injury shortly after this match, as the work he had been doing lately had been the strongest of his career, not only in the ring but on the microphone as well. He genuinely felt like he had momentum going forward following this match, and was beginning to build the prestige of the Intercontinental Championship in the process. Will be Barrett be able to get back to same position once he comes recovers? I sure hope so.

2nd Place 

 
Dean Ambrose vs Dolph Ziggler vs Jack Swagger vs Kofi Kingston vs Rob Van Dam vs Seth Rollins, Ladder Match

WWE Money in the Bank (17%)

The most popular match from the most popular show of the month, seeing Kofi Kingston and Rob Van Dam make their debut in the Top Five. Meanwhile Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose make it in for the fourth time and Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger (following joint 5th place in March for his bout against Cody Rhodes and Goldust alongside Cesaro) appear for the second time each.

Everything we've come to expect from a Money in the Bank Ladder match with a few added extras. Spot after spot after spot, this match delivered in spades. Whether it was Ambrose's Butterfly Suplex to Rollins onto a propped up Ladder, a huge powerbomb from Swagger to Van Dam off the top of a Ladder, Ambroses ladder Superplex to Rollins or Kingston's back drop to Rollins off the Ladder onto a ladder bridged between the ring ropes and the ladder, this one had enough to keep the attention of the crowd and get them to pop at any time. 

What gave this match an edge for me was the solid storytelling and progression of the Ambrose and Rollins feud that was threaded throughout the match, with the aforementioned spots and numerous fantastic brawling sequences, the hatred between the two men emanated through the television screen. Also thrown into the mix was some magnificent selling by Ambrose and Ziggler, who both climbed the ladder with an injured limb and made those moments when they couldn't quite reach the briefcase very believable. The pop for Ambrose's return at the end of the match was also very nice indeed. 

What held this bout back from taking the Number 1 spot in my opinion was the weak finish. Even Jerry Lawler mentioned on commentary "This was a great match until Kane turned up" and he was completely right. There really wasn't much need for Kane to turn up here and I would have much rather seen Rollins use some other underhanded tactics to take Ambrose out of the match.

1st Place

Evolution vs. The Shield

WWE Payback (20%)

For the second month in a row The Shield vs Evolution takes the Match of the Month award! In fact it's Triple H's third Match of the Month award in a row, not bad for burying old timer (he hasn't won any of those matches). Randy Orton now has four Top Five appearances to his name, whilst Batista has three. The Shield make it four victories, with Ambrose and Rollins lifting their Top Five appearances to five and Reigns taking his total to four. 

Brawling, brawling and a bit more brawling, that's what this match was. And I for one loved ever second of it, as did our voters. The bout was put together fantastically, with the pace and flow fluctuating throughout the bout, peaking and troughing at the correct points to keep the crowd engaged in the action. After a wild open section, the bout seemed to have settled down early on, with Evolution using the dirty tactics to keep control of the action and build towards a hot tag for The Shield. Following that was when the six men took it into the next gear, heading back out into the arena and onto the ramp and incorporating a number of of weapons including the steel steps, steel chairs, singapore canes, a laptop and the Spanish announce table. 

Not only were there a number of exciting spots like Rollins jumping off the top of the set onto all three members of Evolution, the bout was clearly structured to allow The Shield to come off as a big time stars and that they did. All three took a hell of a beating, but kept fighting back against the odds. The eliminations were done very nicely, with The Shield picking up a clean sweep, with each Shield member picking up a pinfall. I thought the finishes use of some fantastic symbolism as Triple H clung to his Sledgehammer before taking a Curb Stomp from Rollins and a Spear from Reigns allowing The Shield to secure the victory. 

Of course, The Shield exploded the next night on Raw, so as a last hurrah for the group this match worked very. Was it as good as the previous months bout? Was it as good as The Shield's clashes with The Wyatt Family? That remains to be seen. I guess we'll find out next week when we hold our Match of January-June 2014 vote. 

In the meantime don't forget to like us on www.facebook.com/acrossthepondwrestling and follow us on Twitter @ATPWrestling for all the best wrestling coverage from around the world.

Daily Royal Ramble #2 (25th March 2014)

Okay, there's a slight name change, but like when Antonio Cesaro became just Cesaro or Prince Iaukea became The Artist Formely Known As Prince Iaukee, it's one for the better (The second one might not be strictly true) 

Before, I get into a quick review of Raw, I'd like to go over the results of our January Match of the Month poll (You can still vote for February here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5G8ZJ87). There were a fair few matches up for this one and this is how it ended up.

1st Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan from WWE Royal Rumble - 50%

2nd Kota Ibushi vs. Prince Devitt from NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8 - 15%

3rd Chris Hero vs. Ricochet from EVOLVE 25 - 10%
= Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata from NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8 - 10%
= John Cena vs. Randy Orton from WWE Royal Rumble - 10%

6th Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito from NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 8 - 5%

It would appear that I'm missing out by not watching New Japan with them occupying three of the six top spots here, but it's clear that the majority are also sticking with WWE as Daniel Bryan and Bray Wyatt's clash at WWE's Royal Rumble takes the top spot with 50%. It was a great match up that the rest of the show couldn't live up to, although it's interesting to see John Cena and Randy Orton's much maligned contest taking a place in the top six as well. 

So, I better give some kind of opinion on last night's Raw, eh? 

For me this was an episode that felt very much like WWE treading water, not much actually happened, did it? I mean beyond the final segment with Undertaker popping out of the coffin (Yeah I marked a bit for that) and battling Brock Lesnar, did anything actually go on? Everything was pretty much where it was three hours before the show started. I imagine we'll see WWE make one last push on next week's episode, which is of course the go home show for Wrestlemania XXX. 

On the whole I think I enjoyed Raw this week, I say I think because my computer ended up crashing a few times so I missed the majority of Triple H's in ring promo (Yes, it crashed for quite a while). I thoroughly enjoyed the Fatal Fourway bout between Christian, Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio for a shot at Big E's Intercontinental Championship on this week's Main Event (even if it was revealed earlier that the winner Christian won't be appearing on the show) There were a lot of fun spots, as well as some good psychology addd with Sheamus' injured shoulder, with a clever finish playing on Christian's new heel character. I'm interested to see what the situation with Christian is, as I thought he could have potentially done a lot to help Big E in their singles contest.

There was also the celebrity appearances, kicked with Sin Cara jumping out of The Mystery Machine with a fella dressed as Scooby Doo. Really quite bizarre and surreal, and I'm sure there's many who got all upset about the use of Damien Sandow, but I honestly couldn't care less, this appearances could have been a lot lot worse. Hulk Hogan, Arnold Schwarznegger and some other fella also turned up on Raw to do something. There was a lot of back patting, which didn't really do anything for anyone, before Arnie and that other fella (even Hogan didn't know who he was) asked to enter the Andre Battle Royal, only to be interrupted by The Miz who got his ass handed to him, before Hogan chucked him out of the ring. I have no idea what the point of this was, or what it did for anyone, or whether The Miz is currently a heel or a face.

I'm still trying to get my head around the idea of having the two tag team title number one contenders lose and both get destroyed by The Shield. I understand they needed to keep The Shield looking strong, but there were plenty of other ways to do this. The tag champions weren't even on the show, which could have been used to build a quick programme between them, The Real Americans and Rybaxel. Talking of The Shield, their rumoured contest with Kane and The New Age Outlaws was confirmed, which seems nothing more than a throwaway contest to me, it won't be awful, but I can't imagine many people talking about it afterwards either. We also got the obligatory Diva's bout added to Mania, with AJ Lee set to defend against EVERY diva on the main roster, including Rosa Mendes, who is apparently still employed. Who knew? 

That's probably all I've got to say on last night's Raw....not a lot happened did it? I still dislike JBL (him calling Fandango a "heel" was just mind blowingly idiotic.) but that's a given. I expect next week's Raw to be a lot better, it's going to need to be to get that last push going with Wrestlemania just six days away.

In closing, I'd like to push you towards Marc Pearson's review of Futureshock 74 which featured Jay Lethal taking on Cyanide and Sonjay Dutt against Jack Gallagher, it's fantastic read and can be found here: http://www.acrossthepondwrestling.co.uk/2014/03/futureshock-74-review-marc-pearson.html

There is also just five days left to vote on which PPV's get watched for #ATPSunday in April at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7TSC7WL. Also there is just six days left to vote on February's Match of the Month at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5G8ZJ87